The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook

Munno brings vast inherited knowledge, and years as an Italian food blogger, to her first cookbook. There is much here to enjoy. An extensive ingredient and tool glossary is accompanied by a nice vignette of entertaining the Italian way. “Gorgeous Tips” include helpful hints for time savers, make-ahead, and flavor alternatives, and many recipes include QR codes to videos demonstrating how to make the dish. Photos are luxuriant but are as likely to be of Munno as of the food, but this is nothing new to fans of the blog and new readers likely won’t mind a bit as her style is quite reminiscent of Giada De Laurentiis and Nigella Lawson. Cookbook readers will delight in turning the pages filled with plenty of family and recipe origin stories. True to the style of her blog, Munno delivers ingredient-forward recipes that encourage the use of fresh pasta, but she’s not against subbing in dried pasta for quick weeknight meals.